capeandcowllogs | short and bittersweet [COMPLETE]

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short and bittersweet [COMPLETE]

WHO: Teddy, Jaime
WHERE: Radiotower
WHEN: March 2, 2am
WARNINGS: Good God.
FORMAT: No.

Jaime ripped his fingers out of the computer hard drive immediately after giving Iron Man his final (useless) two-cents. Without even bothering to check the kind of damage he may have inflicted on the poor station's system, he walked out of the room, up the stairs, and shoved the rooftop door open.

He stood for a minute, facing the radio tower. It was cold outside, but he was not.

The Scarab made a faint beep of what could be taken as concern that caused him to bristle, snapping his arm armor into a blade and slicing at one of the tower's horizontal supports, causing it to waver a bit before steadying again.

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Blue, Teddy thought as he flapped his way over the City. Blue blue fucking blue. The whole fucking city is blue and I'm looking for a little blue spot on a little blue building somewhere in the middle of it. Or better yet a little blue spot all the way up in the little blue stratosphere doing god knows what stupid thing to give Iron Man the....dammit, Jaime.

It was cold, Kitty had been right about that, but Teddy decided not to let it bother him -- at least not too much. He was on his way to Spider Central to get her, but got a bit distracted along the way, and by now had veered a bit off course, looking for signs of Jaime. He was so busy trading to himself and being worried like hell that he almost missed one blue smudge in particular.

Unsure, Teddy dove towards it.

I'm gonna throw up.

He felt sick all over, standing there. Staring at the sliver of indication where he'd cut. What he did. What...

What was he doing?

Above.

Jaime lifted his head and stare up, turning his head until he saw the shape swooping down.

Teddy.

He turned slightly, arms slack, just...watching him descend.

Teddy wasn't entirely sure exactly what he planned on doing when he finally reached Jaime, but didn't bother to think about it for those few sharp seconds of what felt like freefall down towards the City and Jaime and the rooftop he stood on. At the last moment, he opened his wings, which ballooned up behind him, almost parachute-like, and when he was only a few feet from touching down, gave a shift so that it was no longer Hulkling, but Teddy barely catching himself and stumbling forward on unsteady feet.

"Jaime," he said lowly, clutching his arms to himself and looking at his friend levelly. His voice was one part I am so going to hit you and another part it doesn't matter anymore, come home.

"I didn't," Jaime started, sounding a little lost, "I didn't do...what I was going to do. I was gonna..."

He trailed off, lifting his arm and watching the blade melt down back to his hand. He swallowed, throat getting tighter. It was hard to talk. I'm gonna throw up.

His vision blurred. "I'm sorry," he croaked, wavering.

Whatever mild and fleeting irritation Teddy had towards Jaime -- needling away at him beneath all of his worry -- in that moment took the opportunity to simply evaporate. "It's okay," Teddy mumbled dumbly, shaking his head, taking a few more steps forward. For a moment, he wasn't quite sure what to do; he reached out with one hand, tentatively at first, and then quickly with more certainty. Clasping his fingers against the nape of Jaime's neck, Teddy tugged with a gentle forcefulness, pulling him into an awkwardly desperate hug.

"It's okay, man," Teddy said again. "It doesn't matter what you were gonna do. It's cool. Everything's gonna be cool."

Jaime, limply tugged into that hug, just stood there for a beat. It took him a bit, but his hands lifted, settling and then clutching on the back of Teddy's shirt. He had to clench his jaw tightly to keep himself from turning into a whimpering mess.

What the hell am I doing? I'm supposed to be a Blue Beetle. Like Ted Kord. He wouldn't fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. He'd think rationally. Hell, I coulda asked him what he'd do, he's here! What is wrong with me?

"Shortly," he eventually mumbled, finding strength again and pulling away. He inhaled before continuing. "That d-bag...Iron Man said...It's a glitch. And that he'll fix it. Shortly."

Teddy's brow furrowed. Lowered. And then pinched in the middle. Each shift seemed to map a different reaction -- confusion, again irritation, and then flat-out concern. "Jaime," Teddy whispered in a kind of quiet disbelief. He reached out and nudged one of his shoulders, which made him jostle a bit loosely. "You talked to fucking Iron Man?"

Blinking, Teddy turned his attention to the radio tower that stretched upwards behind the both of them. Oh. Yeah. Duh, he thought.

"...what dd you do, man?"

The harder Teddy stared, the lower Jaime's gaze dropped, as if being scolded by a parent for breaking curfue. Frustration was slowly being replaced with outright humiliation the longer he stood there.

"Only for a minute or two," he murmured, taking a small step back. His head lifted, but his glance shifted aside, evading looking at Teddy. "I just...I told Scarab to...I dunno. Let me talk to him. So I did."

The gravity of doing such a thing hadn't exactly hit him until just now, and his knees almost buckled. I called out Iron Man.

Even though Jaime's legs decided at the last minute that upright was a good way to be, Teddy made an attempt to catch him anyway, a strong hand on Jaime's elbow that stayed there even though Jaime remained on his feet. There was something insanely stupid and -- Teddy thought -- insanely courageous too about what Jaime had done; something about it made Teddy think almost proudly, yeah there's a reason why you're mi hermano, man.

Teddy, of course, didn't say this, just sort of let out a somewhat incredulous laugh as he peered with a kind of large-eyed astonishment at Jaime. His mouth almost threatened a smile. "Dude," he said, trying very hard not to sound impressed, "that's like trying to drunk dial Jesus." The hand on Jaime's elbow shifted and then clapped lightly onto his shoulder. "You are...something else, man." Teddy shook his head.

Jaime sputtered a laugh at Teddy's comparison, immediately regretting it. "Euh, oh God...don't make me laugh," he groaned a little. "I'll...hurl all over the place. Oh my God. Ted, I'm really retarded, okay?"

He exhaled, shaking his head. "Retarded but...not insane anymore. God. I'm, y'know...I'm sorry I...flipped. I just..." Another inhale. "Y'know. Yeah. Just...kinda sick of my friends getting messed with." His tone got grimmer. "Not that it's any excuse for being such an idiot. I'm sorry. I'm--"

A flinch. "Kate's gonna rip my head off, isn't she."

Teddy pressed his lips together into a thin, grim line and shook his head again. "Don't apologize to me, man, that is so not allowed and you know it," he said, rather firmly. "I mean," and here Teddy leaned over, looping one arm around Jaime's shoulder and giving him another short sideways version of a hug. "You do realize who you're talking to, right? Mr. I-think-I'll-just-try-to-gank-one-of-Stark's-personal-bodyguards-to-have-a-little-chat-and-get-myself-incarcerated-in-the-process-just-to-see-if-he'll-tell-me-where-my-boyfriend-is." He craned his neck to look Jaime as squarely as possible and then said, knowingly: "I get why you did it. I get that you're retarded. And I'm angry too, if you hadn't beaten me to the punch, you'd probably be out now trying to save my ass, bro. Which is exactly why Kate isn't gonna rip your head off. I think she'll just be glad to see the two of us in one piece, yeah?"

There was a tiny urge to ask whose dumb stunt was dumber than the others, but Jaime wasn't sure he really wanted to reflect on his own stupidity more than he was going to. Instead, he just nodded with Teddy's reasoning, pretty much resigned and ready to call it a night for all the stupid-solo-antics.

"Guess so," he managed, shrinking under Teddy's arm and glancing back up at him. "Maybe I'll just you know. Pretend everything is sane and logical and sleep it off and deal with it in the morning. Or something. And uhm." He grimmaced. "It'd be really, really awesome if Robin didn't, euh...know I did this?"

Leaning his head to one side, Teddy bumped his forehead against the side of Jaime's temple, which -- due to Scarab being out -- made a quiet 'clnk' noise and a cold spot on Teddy's skin where it made contact with metal. "Don't worry, you've got my word, dude. That'd be like, ratting me out to Eli. What kind of friend do you take me for, man?" Teddy grinned at Jaime -- his eyes a bit cross-eyed from how close Jaime's face was -- and with a finger, reached up and tapped on the metal covering Jaime's cheek. "Hey, Scarab," he then asked, "can you give me a minute with mi hermano's face? You know, all proper-like?"

Jaime shrank for what was probably the eighteenth time in a period of less than ten minutes, blinking and swallowing against a wave of Awkward.

"Right," he managed as the black and blue slid and shrank away, exposing a very embarrassed Jaime. "To emboss the full memory of my stupid in full-on visual. Spare the scrapbook pages."

Teddy rolled his eyes, but for the most part privately, taking Jaime and giving him what was almost a tiny spin so that they were no longer side to side but standing one in front of the other, with Teddy's hands resting lightly on the tops of Jaime's shoulder. He narrowed his eyes, studying his face carefully, trying to see if there was anything he could glean off Jaime's face -- but in the end, all Teddy found was awkwardness (which admittedly was not a stranger to Jaime's expression in general).

"Nah, man," he said and gave Jaime a tiny nudge. "I just wanted to see your face when I asked you again if you were okay." Quirking an eyebrow, Teddy repeated: "Jaime. Bro. Are you okay?"

"Deh-!" Jaime stiffened after the small spin, mouth stretching into a long, thin line to add to the already slightly-comical look his huge eyes had. The expression immediately washed with a bit of a cringe at the inquiry. He forced a crooked smile that still had the tiniest hint of 'bullshit' no matter how hard he tried.

"Aside from the whole...friends-getting-kidnapped-and-other-friends-getting-swapped-out-for-meaner-future-versions, uh," he squinted a little, "I'm good."

And wahey, I haven't blown anything up this time.

Teddy frowned, but only barely just, the expression of scrutiny just faint enough to hopefully pass underneath Jaime's radar. Rocking forward off of the balls of his feet, he leaned in again, close, pursing his lips, as if half-expecting to catch Jaime in a lie. When he didn't, Teddy rocked back onto his heels in quiet satisfaction.

"Well whatever the frig's going on right now, you're not the only person that's got to deal with it or solve it, you know?" Teddy's face softened then slightly, making his expression all the more earnest. "Don't be by yourself if you don't have to, okay? 'Sides," and here Teddy would reach out across the tiny distance between them and poke Jaime very squarely in the middle of the forehead. "Way to leave me in the lurch, man, with only Tommy to comfort me." Teddy offered a wavery, but heartfelt smile.

It was like getting the staredown from his mother. Having a hunk of alien tech that sounded like her when it wanted to in his head wasn't a huge help, either. Jaime rolled his eyes up, then aside, evading the Teddy Stare while chewing on the inside of his lip.

The poke snapped him back to full attention with a grimmace, and then a slow-to-appear smirk. In a flat tone, he shot back, "Rats. My secret plans. Foiled."

He took a step back, holding up both hands. "I promise to stop being so very...lone soldier or whatever, alright? Not that it was ever my intent, but...yeah."

Sigh. The armor started crawling back over his face, glazing over his eyes and bringing the orange glow back.

"I'm not gonna add onto the pile of Things To Stress Out About anymore, okay?"

Teddy frowned. He wished it could be as simple as that -- that somehow him and Jaime and the rest of them would somehow reach a ceiling of things to be worried about and to go all wrong -- like there was a limit to the ways they could get hurt by this place. Which -- if there was -- they'd yet to reach it. A grim smile crawled onto Teddy's face, though only for a moment; catching himself, he made me warmer, more reassuring and comforting -- the things Teddy assumed Jaime wanted and needed. Not necessarily the truth -- the truth being that on top of Abby not remembering them, there was a very high possibility she would want to kill Teddy if she found out about the Skrull-thing.

Teddy coughed to cover up the unhappy noise he made and then, taking a step back, he nodded and gave his shoulders a roll, slipping back into his Hulkling form which grew broad and tall over Jaime. "No more secret plans, dude," Teddy said and quirked an eyebrow as his wings grew from his back. "Or I will sic Kate on you. Comprende, mi hermano?"

"Oye," he dropped his hands. "I got it, brother."

It was just a bad situation. They were just trying to keep their heads above the water. Apparently Scarab armor didn't float well. Or at least, that's what it felt like to Jaime. Way too many things in a row. Worse than a pile of final exams.

He mirrored Teddy's tone, albeit forced, and straightened (which did a whole lot of nothing, now that Ted was taller than Andre the Giant), giving a nod.

"No more stupid solos. I promise." Until I do another stupid solo on accident. "You can spare the rod. Er. Bow."

He got his wings as well, lifting onto his toes before hovering off the roof. "Heading back home?"

Even though Jaime didn't have to say the words outloud, it was almost an unspoken understanding that the 'until next time' was somewhere implied underneath it everything. After all, him and Jaime were two peas in a pad in a lot of ways, and if it were Teddy in Jaime's situation, he'd have thought the same exact thing.

So Teddy smiled, or at least half-smiled, with a kind of soft appreciation at him as he watched Jaime lift off of the roof by inches and then feet. His smile broadened slightly, became more genuine as he looked up at Blue Beetle, a familiar blue shape against a flat blue sky. Jaime. His friend. With a single hard flap of his wings, Teddy alighted and rose until he was roughly eye to eye with Jaime. He quirked a curious eyebrow.

"Race you home? Or does laying down the law on Stark buy you an automatic win?"

Funny, how you can get yourself lost in a moment or emotion and totally dive off the deep end without even bothering to check what's waiting for you below. Funnier still how the kind of gut-churning realization of said diving can be diffused by the right person, taking the right tone, saying the right words. But Teddy was good at that. Like Doctor Phil minus the Bald and Dork elements. Maybe that was a bad simile.

Either way, maybe Jaime wasn't going to throw up. And maybe it wasn't the end of the world as he knew it, just...one more thing to overcome. With help he oughta realize sooner.

He grinned at his friend and his challenge. "I don't need a handicap like telling off Tin Man to beat you, dude. Just don't stroke out trying to keep up."

A grin. A grin, Teddy figured, was a good sign. He could work with a grin. A grin meant something -- something like perseverance, something true that Teddy understood. It was the one thing, the one real and meaningful thing that Iron Man had managed to give to them in this totally messed up place, and it was times like these - nights like these -- when Teddy and Jaime and all of the others were forced to hold on and grip so tightly to it that it made parts of themselves hurt.

Narrowing his eyes, Teddy reached out and flicked at Jaime's forehead again with the quiet 'plnk' of metal. And then he grinned.

"Oh whatever, dude," he said and with a push and a beating of wings sped off and up towards home, shouting over his shoulder as he went, "just don't throw up, you loser." And laughed.

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short and bittersweet [COMPLETE]

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